The Committee made reference to the credit policy of Eskom in relation to municipalities and a concern was expressed that most money owed to Eskom by municipalities was in the form of interest. It was reported that Eskom charged interest to municipalities after 7 days of non-payment. The Committee also expressed concern with the poor payment of municipal accounts by provincial and national government departments and stated that the issue needed to be addressed. The Committee sought clarity on whether Operation Clean Audit would be achieved by 2014 as originally planned. The SALGA reported that, subsequent to deliberations between itself and the Office of the Auditor-General, it was ascertained that the deadline would not be met.